Once there was a time when you turned on your computer and the words, “you’ve got mail!” were a source of excitement, breaking the monotony of the daily grind. Then with the advent of Facebook the new message that set your pulse racing was “you have a friend request.” Didn’t it make you feel good when you received the message on your Facebook profile page, “(insert a friend’s name here) has accepted your friend request?” Be honest, you were one of those social media types that kept track of how many friends you accumulated! We all did it! It made us feel good that others wanted to know what we were thinking, view our pictures, and our posts. Then along comes Twitter hot on Facebook’s heels, and now you could tweet your thoughts in less than 140 characters! Amazing! You were also able to be Twitter buddies with celebrities, famous authors, anyone in the Twittersphere! Your were filled with pride, when you received tweets from famous celebrities and television personalities, and you were able to view their personal photos giving you a more intimate glimpse into the world of the rich and famous! Blogs were next to gain popularity among the public with people writing opinions, promotions, posting pictures of their children and pets doing cute and crazy things. The advent of YouTube only further enhanced the blogging experience since bloggers were able to upload and reshare videos to their sites. Now enter Google+ which is rapidly overtaking the social media world! Now the message you receive is no longer for friend requests, but states “____has added you to their circles!” Yes Google+ has cornered the market when it comes to categorizing your followers into neat groups called circles! You have the option to share information with specific circles, for instance if you have a writing piece you wish to share you might only reshare it with your circles that include writers, authors, publishers, and freelancers. Since the start of 2014 the increase in creating and sharing circles filled with followers numbering in the hundreds, has started taking the G+ community by storm! I must admit, I’m right in the mix, sharing circles, creating my own circles, and enjoying the opportunity to meet people from all over the world! Google+ members seem to have a very positive, mind-set among them. The members found all over the world refer to each other as friends and exhibit a sense of comradre with fellow members who they may never in their lives get to meet face to face! It’s a wonderful thing to see! These friendly attitudes are refreshing and inspiring, helping to create positive bonds between individuals on this social media platform. I’m not saying there aren’t wonderful people and relationships to be created on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, WordPress blogs, and various other sites, this would be untrue. However, I’m simply noting that with the creation of the many circles shared among Google+ users, no one seems to be alienated, or judged based on their appearance or job status. Social media overall is a wonderful way to make connections with magnificent, interesting people throughout the world. It allows those who wouldn’t otherwise have access, to network with those higher up individuals in their respective fields. Right now G+ appears to be leading the pack when it comes to networking due to the large number of individuals sharing circles consisting of 500+ members or more! What will be the next way to connect people via social media? I can hardly wait to find out what the future has in store for us all!

Once bright in appearance, now hue has diminished,
clouds dense like fog, envelope the sky.
No glimmer of light can invade these fluffy giants,
consuming all that stands in their path.
No thin ray of sunshine,
can penetrate this solid wall.
Try though it may, sun appears unable to permeate this barrier,
a dominating obstacle, overtaking the world above.
Sun refuses to concede to defeat, pushing repeatedly at its oppressor,
begrudgingly, dark clouds give way to the persistant attitude, that refuses to back down.
Emerging briefly, victorious in battle,
is the circular shaped winner, towering over the Earth.
Its glow creates a rainbow of colors,
visible through the dark void overhead.
Proof positive that insistance,
vanquishes darkness, creating victory. Constantly battling to maintain its rightful position,
this golden orb inspires within oneself, the yearning to fight for happiness in life!

…..nothing! No blue line was visible in the tiny result window, waiting triumphantly to make her heart soar, to fill her with euphoric happiness. With a sinking heart, she laid her head on the cold, cool sink counter. She had been sure this time she would see that evasive blue line appear, but again its lack of appearance taunted her! Turning her head forlornly towards the test stick laying still beside her, she angrily picked it up to hurl it into the trashcan. Eager to be rid of the evidence of yet another failed attempt. As her hand reached for the mocking, reminder of her inability to achieve a positive result, she gasped in shock! There before her strikingly bright, clear as the blue sky itself, shown a bold, discernible, solid, blue line! It had been only seconds since checking the test, which had caused her such heartache, yet there was the result she had yearned to see for years! An honest to goodness positive result!
Tears of joy sprang from her eyes catching her unaware. Her hands shook, as she cautiously carried her miraculous outcome, gripped gingerly in her hand, to show her husband. Walking slowly, feeling with every step she took, the line might disappear at any moment. In complete disbelief that this was really happening. With sweaty, quivering hands she handed the precious test stick to her husband. Barely capable of speech, she was only able to utter four words to him;
“I think I’m pregnant!”
Spent with emotional exhaustion, she collapsed into his arms, engulfed by his embrace, dissolving into sobs of joy. Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, shock over finally registering a positive result, planning how she’d share their news, dreaming of future holidays together, names for their baby, among various other idealistic thoughts experienced by a first-time mother. Her heart was light, she felt as if she was walking on air!
The next 18 weeks flew by quickly. She documented each week with photographs, she and her husband took a last vacation, a babymoon, if you will, to enjoy their last summer before the baby arrived. She went a bit overboard in the baby shopping department, buying anything and everything for their future bundle of joy. She experienced the joy of seeing her baby wiggling around inside of her on ultrasounds, and heard its heartbeat strong, and true for the first time. She was in a wonderful bubble of euphoria, eventually sharing at 13 weeks, their happy news with anyone and everyone!
Then the unthinkable happened at 18 1/2 weeks. There was blood, and she knew what that meant. A trip to the hospital confirmed her suspicions, her baby had stopped growing. Her weeks of happiness, the future she had planned for her child was ended, all in a matter of seconds. She felt robbed of her child, of her dreams for it.
Days turned to weeks, a hollow emptiness consumed her, where her baby had once been. Once happy and complete, she now felt lost, bereft of feeling. Seeking comfort through her writing, she wrote her thoughts and feelings about her lost child. This allowed her to find momentary reprieve from the sadness, her thoughts transferred from her mind to the page. Using writing as her security blanket to overcome this tragedy, slowly she began to heal. She emerged a changed, person, but enduring an experience such as this changes anyone. Through her creative outlet of writing, she further explored her other artistic gifts that had laid dormant through the years. She left the world of professional workers focusing solely on her writing and photography, creating a writing company to commemorate her lost child, who through her death, helped her discover a new life!

*For more about my story visit awritersgallery.wordpress.com to read my raw, emotionally poignant, short story publication Always In My Heart in the featured showcase gallery section of the site. Please leave a comment so I know you stopped by to read my story!

The daily prompt today couldn’t be more tailored to my personality. It says to show colors. The post written about colors must incorporate every color found in the rainbow. Well hold onto you hats fellow bloggers, because photographing rainbows and researching their meaning is my specialty!
The rainbow is one of mankinds’ oldest known symbols of hope and eternal life. This arc of colors is the product of perfect harmony within the vibrant shades. Beginning with a passionate red, then fading seamlessly into each different color until reaching its end in a deep purple. The seven colors of the rainbow mirror the seven chakras found in the human body. Each color in the rainbow is associated with a different chakra and has its own unique meaning. Whether you choose to believe in the power and the energy produced from the rainbow’s individual colors is your choice. I personally feel that the magnificence created by the formation of a rainbow is something to take notice of! It has been said the violet/purple shade seen in the rainbow can be linked to our crown chakra, and offers spiritual power. The indigo shade is associated with the human mid-brow chakra eliciting third eye intuition. The blue coloring is symbolic of the throat chakra, creating inspiration. Green represents our heart chakra, creating will and feeling. Yellow links to our solar chakra and thus links to our mind. Orange is attached to the spleen chakra, aiding in digestion and personal sociability. Finally, that vibrant red topping the rainbow, is connected to the human root chakra, providing us with spirituality, ability to take action, and our vitality for life! There is more to the 7 colors in the rainbow’s arc than you realized!
I personally feel that the rainbow serves as a link between Earth and sky, uniting us with those loved ones above that have passed on. When I see a rainbow, they tend to appear at moments in my life when I am in need of personal reassurance, or feeling extremely low. Therefore, I feel these vibrant colors serve as a symbol from our loved ones passed to reassure us that all will be well, and to continue to persevere in life. The rainbow appears to serve as a promise that there is still hope to be found even in the toughest of times. A magnificent gift of nature found in an arc of colors, letting us know our lost loved ones are never far away. They are always watching over us from above. The rainbow with its seven glorious colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet/purple, is a visual reminder to be grateful for nature’s beauty, present throughout our world. A beautiful sign to remind us to be thankful for all the things present in our lives! 🙂